Meteor before Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright:
Fritz
Helmut Hemmerich
What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy?
A meteor.
While photographing the
Andromeda galaxy in 2016,
near the peak of the
Perseid
Meteor
Shower,
a small pebble from deep space
crossed right in front of our
Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion.
The small
meteor
took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field.
The meteor flared
several times while braking violently upon entering
Earth's atmosphere.
The green color
was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized.
Although the exposure was timed to catch a
Perseid meteor,
the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the
Southern Delta Aquariids, a
meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier.
Not coincidentally, the
Perseid Meteor Shower peaks
later this week, although
this year
the meteors will have to outshine a
sky brightened by a nearly full moon.